Being the reviews and ramblings of an incurable narcissist with too much time on his hands.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Review: The Way, Way Back

If naming Moonrise
Kingdom as the second best movie of 2012 didn’t give it away, I have a
weakness for quirky indie comedies about alienated outsiders. This doesn’t
guarantee I’ll like them of course (still not too fond of Silver Linings Playbook) but I do like them a lot. And while The Way, Way Back isn’t a perfect
example of such, it’s pretty good, and buoyed by some great performances.

The plot is concerned with Duncan (Liam James, who you may
remember from absolutely nothing) a quiet and alienated youngster, who is
heading out on summer break to the beach with his mother and her new boyfriend
Trent (Steve Carell in an…interesting performance) who is a bit of a jerk. Oh
and I guess Trent’s daughter is there too, whatever the movie doesn’t care
about her, neither should I. Anyway, while there he meets not only the
increasingly weird neighbors (and one of the neighbor’s hot and yet also
alienated daughters) but also eventually finds his way to a water park, where
he meets the eccentric owner (Sam Rockwell, 80 percent of the reason I went to
see this) who gives him a job and helps him come out of his shell.

So yes, it’s yet another movie about the Summer That Changed
Everything, a plot that depending on how many movies you’ve seen, you’ll have
seen anywhere from 10 to 100 times. But it’s very well put together version of
that story, with very few missteps. It’s a good script, as almost all the
characters (including a couple of absurdly minor ones) are well characterized
and interesting. The direction, while occasionally on the nose, is quite good.
It’s the first directorial outing by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (two of the writers
of The Descendant, one of the better
films of 2011 and both of whom show up in minor roles) and I’m officially
looking for great things in their future. Oh and it's funny. Really, really funny. That's important too. You remember funny right?

But if there’s a single reason to see this movie, it’s the
actors. Sam Rockwell was my primary motivation for seeing this and he does not
disappoint, completely dominating any scene he’s in. But he’s still a good
dramatic actor and it shows, as he’s capable of finding the darker, or at least
more depressing side of a character who feels that he has to be always ‘on.’
Also turning in good work is Steve Carell, who we’re so used to seeing play
nice guys that it’s almost weird seeing him turn up here as someone who’s
casually, almost accidentally, cruel or at least callous. But it works,
partially cause it seems to be a tiny bit meta; Trent is just good enough on
top of that for us to believe he could fool Duncan’s mother and certainly good enough
to give us the feeling he’s got some good in him. And I have to mention Liam
James, just because he acts enough like a real teenager to remind me why I
hated being a teenager.

It does have more than a few flaws, the most glaring being
the way it refuses to characterize most of the few teenage girls who are, with
one exception, flat stereotypes of bitchy mean girls. It’s not a deal breaker,
but it is a little irritating. It also has a little difficulty with some of the
secondary adult characters, in particular Rob Corddry’s Kip and the ending goes
on a little bit too long. Oh and this is a minor thing, but is there a ‘generic
quirky comedy soundtrack’ list that people just go to for movies like this?

Look, I went out of my way (way out of my way) to see this
because it hit two of my personal buttons; Quirky indie comedies about
alienated outsiders and Sam Rockwell. But even if you don’t share those
particular preferences, The Way, Way Back
is a mostly well made movie with a good script and a great cast. This year is
shaping up to be kind of a weak year, so I suggest you take what you can get.
Or you could just go see The Lone Ranger
since that looked so fucking great.

Elessar is a 23 year
old Alaskan born cinephile and he hopes that the Academy’s fetish for quirky
comedies means we can finally get Sam Rockwell an Oscar Nomination.